Kevin Clark, architect and professional musician
This week’s speaker was Kevin Clark, architect and professional musician, who described his hair-raising trip from London to Baghdad in 1964.
Kevin and his wife Barbara, who came along as a guest of the club, are long-time and popular residents of Plimmerton.
Kevin and his late friend Jurgen Erni finished their architecture studies in South Africa and made their way to London, where they invested in a 1958, 500cc, Matchless motor cycle and a box sidecar.
They planned an overland trip to Baghdad, intending to take in as much classic architecture as possible. The route was long and occasionally perilous, covering 19 countries and 31,500km in all. They reached Baghdad via the Balkans and Turkey, then returned to London via Israel, Greece, and Italy.
They slept rough, had tussles with border guards in various countries, and headed for the architectural gems along the way. Although this was the main purpose of the trip, inevitably there were stories to tell about interactions with the locals, and the radically different cultures they encountered.
Eventually, they arrived back in London four months later with the motorbike on its last legs.
Kevin’s talk was illustrated with photographs of high quality and Kevin’s own cartoon drawings. These, and many others, appear in Kevin’s account of the trip (“Baghdad or Bust”) which is written in diary form and which he has published. This is a lavishly produced book and I thoroughly recommend it.
Best way to use leftovers?
I'm sure you've got some excess ham at home or cold roast potatoes.
What are some of your favourite ways to use leftover food from Christmas day? Share below.
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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62% Summer
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36.5% Winter
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1.5% Other - I'll share below
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